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Concerns for welfare of 13,000 sheep and cattle stranded near Fremantle

TIM PALMER: Thirteen thousand sheep and cattle remain stranded on a ship near Freemantle, a week after it was due to depart for Israel.

The company chartering the ship says crews are working around the clock to fix the vessel's engine, and that the livestock on board is "content".

But activists are concerned for the welfare of the stranded animals.

Charlotte King reports.

CHARLOTTE KING: It's a logistical nightmare. The man in charge of 13,000 livestock stranded on a cargo ship at a Western Australian port is doing his best to remain calm.

ALAN SCHMIDT: The livestock are in fine condition. We put extra sawdust underneath them. They're out of the sun. It's cool onboard.

The livestock are actually putting on a little bit of weight, which indicates that they're quite content.

CHARLOTTE KING: Alan Schmidt is the managing director of Otway Livestock Exports. The company has charted the ship, the MV Ocean Outback, to export 7,500 sheep and 5,500 head of cattle for slaughter in the Middle East.

But seven days after it was due to leave Western Australia, the ship and the animals onboard remain docked south of Fremantle.

ALAN SCHMIDT: Repairs are in progress. Wellard's have put together a team from pretty much all over the world to assess and affect the repairs.

We expect probably Wednesday-ish or thereabouts it'll be ready to sail and continue on its voyage to Israel.

CHARLOTTE KING: It must be quite a high-pressure situation to be in, though. You've got a lot at stake here. Are you concerned about the amount of time that they're on the boat, in terms of the losses that you might encounter?

ALAN SCHMIDT: Oh, look... everything is fully insured. It's one of these things that you hope never happens but always plan for.

GLENYS OOGJES: I think this is the fourth major breakdown in the last couple of years and it causes great suffering to the animals when this happens.

CHARLOTTE KING: In 2014, another live export vessel owned by the same Wellard Shipping Company, the Ocean Drover, also broke down. The livestock deaths which resulted triggered a Federal Government investigation.

GLENYS OOGJES: The report just came out late last year; late 2015, and they had very high mortalities and that was because the ship went at a much lower rate because of similar problems with an engine.

They had, oh, nearly 1,700 sheep die on that ship and 165 cattle died. And that was all about the elongated voyage, but also about changes to diet.

So it's not a natural environment and animals do die.

CHARLOTTE KING: The livestock consignment is heading to Israel's biggest abattoir, the Dabbah slaughterhouse, which was shut down last year following allegations of animal cruelty.

(Audio excerpt of television news report)

Footage broadcast from the slaughterhouse on Israeli television last year shows workers cutting the throats of cattle and hanging them while they are still conscious.

But Alan Schmidt says the standards at the abattoir have improved.

ALAN SCHMIDT: There are no issues at all with Dabbah slaughterhouse now.

CHARLOTTE KING: OK. And so what's the evidence that it's been addressed?